GRU (Russian Federation)

The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formerly the Main Intelligence Directorate, and still commonly known by its previous abbreviation GRU, is the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The GRU controls the military intelligence service and maintains its own special forces units.

This article is about the Russian GRU. For the Soviet GRU, see GRU (Soviet Union).

Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ции
Glavnoje upravlenije General'nogo shtaba Vooruzhonnykh sil Rossiyskoy Federatsii
Emblem of the G.U. of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia

Flag of the G.U. of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia
Agency overview
Formed7 May 1992 (1992-05-07)
Preceding agency
HeadquartersGrizodubovoy Street 3, Moscow
EmployeesClassified
Annual budgetClassified
Agency executive
Parent agencyGeneral Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Child agencies
WebsiteMinistry of Defense Website

Unlike Russia's other security and intelligence agencies – such as the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Federal Protective Service (FSO) – whose heads report directly to the president of Russia (see Intelligence agencies of Russia), the director of the GRU is subordinate to the Russian military command, reporting to the Minister of Defence and the Chief of the General Staff.

The directorate is reputedly Russia's largest foreign-intelligence agency, and is distinguished among its counterparts for its willingness to execute riskier "complicated, high stakes operations". According to unverified statements by Stanislav Lunev, a defector from the GRU, in 1997 the agency deployed six times as many agents in foreign countries as the SVR, and commanded some 25,000 Spetsnaz troops.

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